Qaddafi called recently for the creation of a neo-Fatimid empire in North Africa that would be “Arab and Shiite”, for “North Africa is Arab and Shi'ite,” reports Algerian blogger Nouri. “Obviously the Fatimids were of Arab origin, and not Iranian; the Iranians came to Shiism far later than did the Arabs, and even then only by force of arms by way of Turks. This does not change the fact that Shias are few and far between in North Africa today. And it very clearly does not mean that North Africans are “100%” Arabo-Shia. The Maghreb is not Basra,” he notes.